big woop
[bramble is salty about diamonds, still, forever] on the one hand, this is a pretty good article on the other hand I am going to scream
big woop
I'd love to see synthetic diamonds break into the jewelry market in a significant way I'd prefer to see people stop putting this shitty brittle piece of carbon on a pedestal
Cow Titans!?
THANK YOU like I love diamonds as much as any super shiny gemstone but like. There's so much stuff that's both less likely to shatter if dropped and actually rarer available out there.
Crabchan
I read over the article but I am not in with gemstones or anything like that. Can you summerize it for me?
big woop
ok the thing is that the diamond market is super obscenely inflated and has been for most of the last century
big woop
this leads to a lot of super shady practices in the diamond mining industry
big woop
and is largely the result of the De Beers consortium's intentionally stockpiling stones to keep supply low and demand high
big woop
the thing is that diamonds have a lot of industrial uses? Diamond-tipped drills and saws are really useful
big woop
and diamonds aren't actually that difficult to synthesize
big woop
They're just carbon, you put a tiny piece of diamond in a carbon-rich environment and add the right kind of energy and you can grow good-sized crystals really quickly
big woop
we've been able to do this for about sixty years, but it's just in the past couple of decades that we've got the process down well enough to make jewelry-quality diamonds
big woop
aka diamonds that are pretty near physically indistinguishable from stones that someone paid a child a few cents to mine under horrific conditions
big woop
sometimes even better-looking stones than "natural" stones
Crabchan
/nod nod
big woop
so naturally the industry is flips their everloving shit when you suggest that maybe lab-grown diamonds are just as good
big woop
and like. I can see how some people do like diamonds? they're pretty, they're sparkly in a way that's really hard to match with other stones
Crabchan
But they really are not worth it at the end of the day because synthetic is just as good as non-blood diamonds?
big woop
but a lot of the hype around them is the result of some very calculated marketing moves and there's no good reason why they should be more highly valued than a lot of other gemstones
You HETEROLINIS
plus they are boring
Crabchan
to me most gemstones are boring besides the oh look it sparkles at a jewlery booth thing and then walking off.
big woop
sapphires and rubies are significantly more rare than diamonds and also a lot sturdier
You HETEROLINIS
they're like those empty headed noble second sons
stop thinking you're worth something and go do something useful
You HETEROLINIS
like lasers
big woop
bc like. yes diamonds have that much lauded "10 on the Mohs scale" thing but they're also brittle as fuck
Crabchan
how so?
big woop
they're hard to scratch but because of their extremely regular cubic crystal structure it takes relatively little force to crack them
Crabchan
it makes me think of this sitcom I saw a while back, where this woman got an engagement ring and said 'it is diamon and it can cut glass' as she smashed it against the wall- but it broke because she mis
big woop
whereas corundum - which is the mineral that sapphires and rubies are gem-quality varieties of - has a crystal structure that doesn't have the same kind of planes of cleavage
Crabchan
translated where it was actually 'It is like a diamon but is made of glass'
big woop
it's very hard to crack a ruby, and there isn't much short of a diamond that can scratch one - corundum has a Mohs value of somewhere around 9
big woop
and iirc emerald comes in at about 8
Crabchan
so that entire scale thing is just about scratching and not actual endurance?
big woop
Yeah, Mohs scale measures hardness
big woop
which is an important measure of strength but not the only measure of strength
Crabchan
So, like if we pretended this was pokemon, that would only be one IV?
Crabchan
and just because it is good at one, doesn't mean its the best
big woop
yeah! that's a good comparison
big woop
and like, as I said, diamonds are a perfectly respectable gem, they're just. not the be-all and end-all of gemstones.
Cow Titans!?
...I was typing up an analogy but you know what that one's better. XD
Crabchan
So Diamonds are a pokemon shot with one good IV and the only reason it is considered so much because it is like that stupid game cafe pokemon thing. You work hard to get it, but
Crabchan
its not really worth it?
Crabchan
imma learning a lot
big woop
but the "being really hard" thing does make diamonds really good for cutting and polishing other materials
big woop
if you put a coating of very small diamonds on a drill or a saw it will be able to stay much sharper much longer
big woop
which honestly is a big part of why the technology to synthesize diamonds was developed, because they do have legitimate industrial uses
big woop
and the supply chain is so closely controlled by the jewelry industry
Crabchan
/nod nod
big woop
which also tends to invoke some pretty nasty cultural conceptions of female sexuality as a commodity to sell said diamonds
Crabchan
like that paraody ad on Family Guy making fun of the old Kay's commerical that pretty much went 'GIVE HER A DIAMOND SHE WILL HAVE TO BLOW YOU'
big woop
yeah
big woop
and like at this point there's enormous cultural weight behind "diamond jewelry as the ideal courting gift for a woman"
𝖕𝖚𝖟𝖟𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊
see also: engagement rings
𝖕𝖚𝖟𝖟𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊
I've had customers before be like "If it doesn't have a diamond, it's not a REAL engagement ring"
Crabchan
That...makes no sense
𝖕𝖚𝖟𝖟𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊
fun stuff you learn from snappy customers at the kmart jewelry section
big woop
and diamond engagement rings were not really a thing until the Victorian era?
big woop
there's various other traditions of rings as engagement gifts
𝖕𝖚𝖟𝖟𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊
personally i think emeralds look prettier, but you know :V
Crabchan
I dont understand jewelry in general. So I am like 'WHY PUT SO MUCH VALUE ON ROCKS?'
big woop
but diamond rings weren't the go-to engagement ring until british colonies in africa started mining diamonds
big woop
and they weren't really marketed to the middle classes until after WWI
You HETEROLINIS
I distinctly recall reading one of the Anne Shirley books where she refuses a diamond wedding ring because she never got over the disappointment of them not being purple
You HETEROLINIS
and I suspect that influenced me deeply as a child
big woop
(I've also heard that diamond engagement rings started getting really popular about the time it stopped being legal for a woman to sue her ex-fiance for breaking off the engagement)
You HETEROLINIS
(and when dowries stopped being a thing)
You HETEROLINIS
('there should be money involved SOMEwhere)
Crabchan
Why did they get so popular around that time though? Was it like: Here is something pretty to shut you up incase?
You HETEROLINIS
more like 'you spent money on me, you're less likely to fuck off'
Crabchan
oooooh
You HETEROLINIS
also that arbitrary 'the ring SHOULD be X months' worth salary'
big woop
with some undertones of
big woop
"once we make it public that we intend to marry, everyone's going to assume we're Totally Doing It anyway so if you do fuck off it's going to be harder for me to make another good match"
You HETEROLINIS
yeah because apparently a judge won't rule in favor of someone wanting a gift back UNLESS it's an engagement ring
Crabchan
which makes me think of that one analysis of Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend when they mentioned that Diamonds would always be a source of income for women
You HETEROLINIS
that's the point of the song yes
You HETEROLINIS
'sex is grand, but bitch better give u money for when ur old and wrinkly'
Crabchan
i never knew there was so much behind diamonds historically and such
You HETEROLINIS
Crabchan
that ios a really good song
FʀᴏᴍTʜᴇFɪʀᴇ
it should be noted we have lab versions of a LOT of stones now
Crabchan
ooooh?
FʀᴏᴍTʜᴇFɪʀᴇ
yeah
FʀᴏᴍTʜᴇFɪʀᴇ
I know they do corundum and spinels now, I actually have a lab ruby
Crabchan
thats awesome
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